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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to repel rats without taking out a 2nd mortgage!

26 replies

Myshinynewname2021 · 04/01/2021 12:17

Help! NC for this (I hope) and posting here for traffic after a sleepless night!!! I have a rat - not a pet one. I thought it was mice but have had to accept the truth after it chewed an electrical cable and the inlet pipe to washing machine which promptly started leaking.

So I am going to have to tear my flat apart and plug all gaps - it seems to have a rat run through my kitchen, utility cupboard, spare room and even into the base of my storage bed. I've had 2 plug in repellers (kitchen and right by the wall with the pipes to utility room) but I've started closing the doors and after the first night the spare room carpet by the door was coming away. So I closed the door last night and put a strip of wood where the gaps were by the door.

Then starting at 2am an almighty noise.. which I isolated to the spare room right by the door and I opened the door a little (to give it a fright?!) and the fucking thing has chewed the carpet so much it's lifted up!

I think that it wasn't in the kitchen because of the repellers. I've bought a good one from a diy place (to pick up today). Can I do this without paying a fortune to rentokil or whoever? Do they work? I can do reasonable diy so I'm going to do room by room plus outdoors plugging any gaps.

Would they be in the house during the day? If I trap them in the walls then they die they will smell! This rat was pretty frantically trying to get out of the spare room (it tried all night!) under the door and I'm not sure why. Could it have babies elsewhere?

Can diy work? I have to replace the carpet and can't afford hundreds of pounds for professionals too.

OP posts:
bungaloid · 04/01/2021 12:20

I'm afraid traps and bait are the most likely solutions to really work.

Original poster
Myshinynewname2021 · 04/01/2021 12:22

I'm thinking get repellers in each room (will need one in my bedroom by the way too) then room by room fill the spaces with copper mesh under filler then hopefully they will be out so plug any gaps in brickwork etc.

I'd do inside today and outside tomorrow. Ugh.

OP posts:
RainbowRaine · 04/01/2021 12:26

Sprinkle some flour along the floors if possible, you should then be able to see which way and where they are coming from once they leave their footprints behind.

CMOTDibbler · 04/01/2021 12:26

You need to get a pest controller in. They aren't that expensive - £140 for 4 visits when I had to get one out for my parents house

Original poster
Myshinynewname2021 · 04/01/2021 12:26

@bungaloid ok well I'm fine with that too. I have a (useless!) dog and so would get the enclosed traps. Would I put them along the walls? I feel like poison could result in decomposing rats I can't get to so am thinking this one?
www.screwfix.com/p/pest-stop-psesrtb-easy-set-rat-trap-box/655hh

OP posts:
CuriousaboutSamphire · 04/01/2021 12:28

As one who owned pet rats for decades I can only repeat - repellers are useless. You may get a reduction on activity for a short while but once the rats have got used to the new noise in their habitat they will just ignore it!

The only successful way is to call in the professionals; identify entry points and seal them up properly - not copper mesh - steel/wire wool; set aside your natural squeamishness about killing any... they replace themselves very quickly! Again, you have them inside your home already Spend the money on a professional!

BillieSpain · 04/01/2021 12:28

I have a rat problem in my roof. I live in the country and they come in at winter. Lots.

If I were you I'd put down poison (lock up pets) and be prepared for the smell. It works but is unpleasant. This is exactly what rentokill will do. It is what they did when I got them in 5 years ago. I now do it myself.

Putting brillo pads/wire wool to block up any holes you see.

Are you in a city or country?

Good luck Flowers

Knittedfairies · 04/01/2021 12:28

If your council has a pest control officer it will be significantly cheaper than Rentokil.

stealthninjamum · 04/01/2021 12:29

I’m sorry you’re going through this, that would be my worst nightmare.

You can buy an electronic rat trap on amazon for about £30, I would try that. As a pp said put down flour to track where they’re going and leave a trap in the path.

TaxTheRatFarms · 04/01/2021 12:31

I would think you definitely need a pest controller - or a cat maybe? When we lived in the countryside, our house was the only one that mice avoided thanks to our clinically insane ex-farm cat. I’m not sure if they scare off rats too though.

Emeraldshamrock · 04/01/2021 12:32

Traps and bait, fill all entry points.
My Dad mixed broken crushed glass with the cement it deters them if they chew it they bleed internally they will chew through normal cement or foam.
I'd be setting traps quickly before his friends join him, a neighbour had an open pipe under her house she went from one to 8 in a short time.

TheDogsMother · 04/01/2021 12:34

Can you borrow a Jack Russell ? They are superb ratters.

LongBlobson · 04/01/2021 12:36

We had rats recently. I can only say, if we hadn't called in a professional then we would have a lot more rats by now, and I imagine some very expensive damage to our property.

A good pest control service will identify how they are getting in, and stop them getting in. In our case there was a cracked sewer pipe outside our property. He said they most often get in from the sewers. He had cameras to put down drains and all sorts, and was willing to stick his arm in the sewer and crawl around in a rat-infested roof space. Well worth the money!

bungaloid · 04/01/2021 12:42

@Myshinynewname2021, that Screwfix thing looks about right. I used something similar, a mixture of boxes containing traps and bait. You want to put it in the path of the rat, e.g. against skirting boards on walls which it is running along (rats will tend to scoot along fences, skirting board lines, edges of stuff etc so they are least exposed to predators.
Whether they die in your house can depend on where the nest really is. Our rats came in at night to nose around but presumably went back to their burrows during the day (countryside rats!). I read that when they start to feel sick from the poison they tend to head home. There are wider risks with poison so if you can lethal trap them it feels "better". I felt sad for our rats but I'm afraid they had become too cheeky and obvious in their shenanigans.

Throwntothewolves · 04/01/2021 12:45

Do you know anyone who has a Jack Russell? They are great at deterring, and catching rats

Callipygion · 04/01/2021 12:54

Try a “Little Nipper” rat trap (I got one in Boyes or it could have been Wilko ) only £2 or £3. Mind your fingers.

DanceToTheMusicInMyHead · 04/01/2021 12:56

We had rats a few weeks ago (they chewed through an outlet pipe in the sink!). Contacted our local council pest control- £45 for 2 visits and rat problem downstairs gone. They also left a trap and poison, which we were able to use last week when we heard scrabbling in the loft. They ate lots of the poison, we think we plugged the hole, and no disturbance since. Maybe your council has a similarly cheap service?

My home insurance also has a pest option add on for not much extra

fairydustandpixies · 04/01/2021 13:02

I had a similar problem last year but the rats were in my neighbours house and coming through to mine via the cavity in the ceilings. I tried repellers but they didn't work. In the end I went halves with my neighbour (she is elderly with little money) and we got a pest control firm in. They visited every week for four weeks and it cost about £120. Worth every penny!

1stTimeMama · 04/01/2021 13:09

I'd need a new mortgage because I'd have burnt my fucking house down!

We had rats in a military house, rodents are the one thing I just can't deal with, so I suggested they move us out to a hotel that night, and I never went back. I know this isn't helpful though! They got pest control in to catch the bastards in the end.

TigerDrawers · 04/01/2021 13:13

Check with your local council. Rat pest control is free with some of them - I know ours is. Our estate had a significant rat problem a couple of years ago (though for some reason they were never spotted in our garden!) and the council sorted it quite quickly.

Changi · 04/01/2021 13:14

Try a “Little Nipper” rat trap

We used a "Big Nipper".

Original poster
Myshinynewname2021 · 04/01/2021 13:41

Great suggestions here! I am in London on a ground floor flat. I have a small terrier but she's old and doesn't even hear them let alone kill them! She can smell them though. TBH it's kind of freaking me out.

Maybe I'll get someone in if it's under £200 - I'd have to take loads of stuff out of the spare room etc and thought since I had that hassle anyway I could fill the holes. Since I'd need to clear those rooms and the space outside.

OP posts:
Original poster
Myshinynewname2021 · 04/01/2021 14:03

But as ever in London it appears that costs quoted are not final costs - which appear to be well over £200 and the council is not responding (website doesn't work and phone not answered).

OP posts:
Emeraldshamrock · 04/01/2021 14:36

Keep trying the council in the meantime get a large rat trap catch to kill it sounds cruel they'll over run your home.
Contact environmental health and citizens advice they may have a cheaper option.

teenytrees · 04/01/2021 14:56

We had a similar problem and used our household insurance emergency cover which paid for a professional to come in and sort it out.
It turned out to be rats and squirrels, they eventually got rid of both.
Check if your insurance covers it first and definitely get professional help.